Texas A&M’s Casas Drops 1:40.3 200 Fly on Night 3 of American SC Championships

2020 AMERICAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 5-7, 2020
• Austin, Texas
• Short Course Yards
• Results

The 2020 American Short Course Championships concluded tonight in Austin, Texas. While it’s a club meet, it also serves as a last chance qualifier for local swimmers to try to make the cut for NCAAs. Texas A&M’s Shaine Casas put up another best time tonight, winning the 200 fly in 1:40.33. That’s a second faster than his lifetime best from the 2019 NCAA Championships. Casas is now ranked 3rd in the NCAA this season.

There is some question about what Casas’ NCAA lineup will be. Last season, he made a switch from SECs to NCAAs, swapping the backstrokes for the butterflies. He swam both backstrokes at the SEC meet, breaking Ryan Lochte’s SEC Meet Record in the 200 back. He’s still ranked #1 in the nation with that swim. However, there’s a chance he’ll opt for the 200 fly instead. After his blistering 3:37 in the 400 IM last night, he may choose not to swim the backstrokes at all at NCAAs again.

Teammate Mark Theall dropped over 10 seconds in the mile, breaking 15:00 for the first time in 14:57.67. He’s likely weighing that event against the 100 free for his 3rd event at NCAAs.

Texas’ Ethan Harder is currently ranked 25th in the 200 back ahead of the Pac-12 finals tonight. Harder won tonight’s race in 1:42.14, but that’s about a second behind his season best. Teammate Josh Artmann had the fastest time of the day with a 1:40.42 in prelims, just over a tenth off his season best from Big 12s. He’s ranked 33rd in the 100 free with his 42.66 from SECs and 30th in the mile, with the Pac-12 finals still to go. While he’s outside of qualifying range in both events, he’s safely made the meet with his rankings in the 200 free and 500 free.

Texas Postgrad Will Licon swam the 200 breast, an event in which he’s an NCAA Champion and the American Record holder. Licon won the race in 1:54.24. Behind him, SMU’s Caleb Rhodenbaugh lowered his lifetime best to a 1:54.63, but that’s ranked outside of the NCAA top 30. BYU’s Katie McBratney swam the fastest time of the day in the women’s 200 breast with a 2:19.53, but that was well off her season best. She scratched the final, where Tailyn Schaufel put up a 2:21.45.

Additional Event Winners:

• Women’s 200 back: Noelle Kaufmann, BAD, 1:57.10
• Men’s 100 free: Aleksey Tarasenko, IOWA, 43.34
• Women’s 200 fly: Ryan Mills, AQTX, 2:06.29